This motion was carried in the Tribunate, with one dissenting voice, that of Carnot; who, in a speech of great eloquence, resisted the principle of hereditary monarchy altogether.  He admitted the merits in war and in policy of the Chief Consul—­he was at present the Dictator of the Republic, and, as such, had saved it.—­“Fabius, Camillus, Cincinnatus were dictators also.  Why should not Buonaparte, like them, lay down despotic power, after the holding of it had ceased to be necessary to the general good?  Let the services of a citizen be what they might, was there to be no limit to the gratitude of the nation?  But at all events, even granting that Buonaparte himself could not be too highly rewarded, or too largely trusted, why commit the fortunes of posterity to chance?  Why forget that Vespasian was the father of Domitian, Germanicus of Caligula, Marcus Aurelius of Commodus?” In effect Carnot, colleague as he had been of Robespierre, and stained as he was with the blood of Louis XVI., was a sincere republican; and, after his own fashion, a sincere patriot.  He was alone in the Tribunate—­the rest of whose members prolonged, during three whole days, a series of fulsome harangues, every one of which terminated in the same implicit agreement to the proposal of Curee.

The legislative body, without hesitation, adopted it; and a senatus-consultum forthwith appeared, by which Napoleon Buonaparte was declared Emperor of the French:  the empire to descend in the male line of his body:  in case of having no son, Napoleon might adopt any son or grandson of his brothers as his heir:  in default of such adoption, Joseph and Louis Buonaparte were named as the next heirs of the crown (Lucien and Jerome being passed over, as they had both given offence to Napoleon by their marriages).  The members of Napoleon’s family were declared princes of the blood of France.

This decree was sent down to the departments:  and the people received it with indifference.  The Prefects reported on the 1st of December, that between three and four millions of citizens had subscribed their assent to the proposed measure, while not many more than three thousand voted in opposition to it.  This result indicated, as these functionaries chose to say, the unanimous approbation of the French people.  That nation, however, consisted at the time of more than thirty millions!

But Napoleon did not wait for this authority, such as it proved to be.  On the 18th of May (more than six months ere the report reached him) he openly assumed the imperial title and dignity.  On the same day he nominated his late colleagues in the Consulate, Cambaceres and Le Brun, the former to be Arch-Chancellor, the latter Arch-Treasurer of the Empire.  The offices of High-Constable, Grand Admiral, &c., were revived and bestowed on his brothers, and others of his immediate connections.  Seventeen generals (viz.  Berthier, Murat, Moncey, Jourdan, Massena, Augereau, Bernadotte, Soult, Brune, Lannes, Mortier,